


Art Kids Music Kids and Everything In-between

by catsincafes



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Summer Camp, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Hinted at reincarnation, Humor, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-18
Updated: 2016-01-04
Packaged: 2018-04-15 08:08:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 11,766
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4599249
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/catsincafes/pseuds/catsincafes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's Jean Kirstein's last summer at Maria Fine Arts Camp, and he's really hoping he can make the most of it, but sometimes being an art kid can be more than a little tough.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. reunion

**3 rd of  January**

 

**_From: Marco:_** _Hey!!! Do you wanna room together at Camp this year??? :O_

 

**_To: Marco:_** _Sure! It’ll be nice to know someone in my cabin for a change lmao_

 

**_From: Marco:_** _:D!!!!!_

 

 

*******

**29th of June**

 

**_From: Marco:_** _AAAAAA FORST DAY OF CAMP HERE WE GO!!!!!_

 

**_From: Marco:_** _First* whoopsie_

 

**_To: Marco:_ ** _GOOD LUCK IN AUDITIONS!!!_

 

**_From: Marco:_** _I’m leaving now, see u at camp!!! :D_

 

  ** _To: Marco:_** _See you soon!_

 

 

***

“And remember to stay hydrated” my mom finishes her usual before camp speech as the car rounds the corner leaving the cracked asphalt of the main road and driving onto the dusty dirt road. It rolls on further the sound of gravel crunching under the tires coming from outside mixing with the lyrics “Don’t stop thinking ‘bout tomorrow don’t stop it’ll soon be here” playing inside the car.

“Don’t worry mom, I’ve got everything I need” I smile at her from the passenger’s seat.

“I’m gonna miss you”

“You say that every year mom, plus it’s only 12 days”

“12 days is a lot when there’s no one else at home but me” She sighs “I never do get used to the loneliness”

“It’s okay, I’ll write tons of letters”

She laughs “you better”

I look down at the paper I’m holding. It has my unit name and Cabin name written on it and the backside of the paper has a large map of Camp Maria drawn on it, or should I say Maria Fine Arts Camp or as some of us call it “Maria Farts Camp”.

The car slows down drastically as it enters camp territory. I’m buzzing with excitement to be back at camp this year, oh the joy of nature, art and sweet freedom. This year the Unit that my cabin is in is all the way at the back of camp. I stare out the window at some of the kids walking outside, some are carrying musical instruments and some are walking with their parents. We drive all the way to the back. My Mom stops the car in front of my unit, Unit 15. I look around at the nine cabins organized in a semi-circle, four cabins to either side of the unit counselor’s cabin.

I get out of the car, gravel scraping under my shoes. I scan the cabin names until I find Whitman (I mean that’s my cabin’s name, not some random guy named Whitman). My cabin happens to be the last one in the unit, closest to the end of camp territory. I pull my backpack over my shoulder and grab my suitcase out of the car and make my way to my cabin with my mom following me. I open the creaky door and step into the dimly lit room.

I begin to look around. To my right is the little cabin counselor nook. Next to the nook there is a bunk bed, there is a kid laying on the top bunk but they’re laying so far down in the bunk I can’t really see them, they also can’t really see me, seeing that they haven’t taken notice of my presence in the room, or maybe they’re just really focused on whatever they’re reading. There is a dark green sleeping bag and a bright red fleece blanket haphazardly thrown on the bottom bunk making me feel like it’s Christmas, but sadly it’s the beginning of summer and the only Christmas it could be is Christmas in July and it’s not even that.

I would look around the cabin more but I direct my attention to the counselor nook where it looks like the counselor has emerged from virtually nowhere. He looks to be about twenty and has hair that looks like a bird’s nest; all it needs is a few eggs. I read his nametag; it has Farlan written on it in all uppercase letters with a little Red Cross sticker next to it. He looks at me then at the sheet of paper sitting on the shitty plywood half wall separating the counselor nook from the rest of the cabin which is made out of equally shitty plywood that I could probably punch a hole through.

Farlan looks back up at me.

“So I’m going to assume you’re Jeen since everyone else seems to already be here”

His gross pronunciation of my name bothers me but before I can say anything my mom butts in.

“Actually its pronounced Zh-awn kind of like John, um, it’s French”

Farlan looks at my mom with a careless expression “Okay ma’am I’m gonna assume you’re John’s parental guardian, so I’m gonna have you sign this here paper.” Farlan points to a white piece of paper with a list of names on it, each with a signature next to it. The first name catches my eye, Armin Arlert, If he’s here that means- I scan the list, sure enough at the bottom is Eren Jaeger. What are the odds that I would be in the same fucking cabin as two of my ‘friends’ from school?

While my mom looks over some of the camp information for this year Farlan has me write my name on a small piece of paper that will go into my name-badge. He then hands me a small circular pin which I slide the piece of paper into.

My mom finishes looking over the information and looks at me.

“Have a good time at camp, okay Jean? Write me some letters, I’ll write back and try to keep you up to date with civilization.”

“Sure mom” I give her a small smile.

My mom opens the creaky door and turns back. I give her a small wave and she smiles and walks back to the car to go back home.

I turn back to Farlan.

“So John” he says “you’re a visual arts major?” the way he says it makes it sounds like a question even though he already knows the answer is yes.

“Yup, this is my fifth year being in the art colony” I reply.

“Hmm, you guys have your first class at 1:30 today so you have about an hour” he says handing me some paper.

I look at the electric clock sitting on the half wall by the front window; it reads 12:28 in bright red.

“Oh, also here’s your camp shirt” he says handing me a forest green polo with Maria Fine Arts Camp written on the top left corner, its identical to the one I’m wearing but my mom always buys an extra one every year.

Farlan begins to talk about the laundry procedures and I start to look around the room again because laundry procedures are literally the same thing every year “bla bla bla laundry washed twice a week bla bla bla only camp bought clothes washed bla bla bla wash everything else on your own.” Same old same old.

I look back at the wall that’s on my right, after the bunk bed there is a small shelf unit closer to the back wall of the cabin. On the back wall there are two windows with a bunk bed in between the windows there is shelf units to either of its sides. Then I look over at the wall to my left, there is a bunk bed in the corner with a shelf unit next to it, towards the front of the cabin on that side there is a single bed and some bald kids sitting on it reading a copy of Glamour magazine.

Um well nice reading material I guess.

It looks like the only bed left is the top middle bunk so I walk over there. I place my backpack on the bed and right as I’m about to start unpacking I hear two voices approaching.

The cabin door swings open with a loud “Creeeeeek”.

“Real talk though Marco, Shakespearean comedies fuel my being”

I turn around abruptly, I know exactly who’s talking.

“Eren!” I yell pointing at one of the two boys who had just walked in.

Eren stops talking as he notices me, a huge grin spreads on his face and he looks like he’s just seen the best play of his life or whatever it is that Shakespeare majors get excited about.

“Hallo meine Schneckchen.” Eren says in the most seductive voice he can manage.

“Oh my god, are we continuing this again this year?” I ask lifting an eyebrow.

“Yes, because you’ll always be my little snail”

“Wow I feel absolutely blessed to be Eren Jaeger’s little snail”

“Mhm, you better be” Eren says as he walks over to the bunk bed by the counselor nook and starts to poke the poor kid on the top bunk, who at this point I assume is Armin since Eren and Armin are like two peas in a pod.

I look over at Marco still standing in the doorway.

“So Marco are we gonna have a big reuniting moment of friendship or what?”

Marco rolls his eyes and smiles.

“After only being able to talk to you over the internet for a whole year we have to have a big reuniting moment.”

Marco runs up to me and hugs me almost pushing me into the bunk bed.

“Hi Jean I missed you”

“I missed you too Marco” I say as I hug him back and try to balance myself.

I step back.

“So how was choir auditions?” I ask

“Oh, I got into choir A and I guess I get to work with some of the vocal Jazz majors this year, which sounds pretty fun.” Marco grins.

There he is Marco Bodt always being the best at what he does.

“Congratulations you huge music nerd, but now I have to get back to unpacking so I’m not late to my first class”

“Here why don’t I help you? That way you’ll be able to get done unpacking in half the time and we’ll have more time to talk” Marco suggests. “Anyway I’ve already made my bed and stuff so it’s all cool” Marco gestures to the neatly made bottom bunk.

I open up my suitcase and take out my pillow, bed sheets, and blanket.

I look back up at Marco.

“All I really need to do is make my bed” I say

“That’s okay I can help you make your bed” Marco says while looking at me.

I shrug and grab my backpack off the bed.

“Hmm, sure okay”

We pull my light blue sheets onto the thin shitty mattress, I pull my green sleeping bag out of my backpack and plop it onto the bed and then we neatly fold my blue blanket over it. I then take my shower stuff out of my suitcase and put it on the shelf unit to the right of my bed, I keep everything else in my suitcase and shove it under the bunk bed.

Nice, everything looks nice. I turn my head around and look at the electric clock it reads 12:50, I should probably leave in about twenty minutes so I can make it to the art colony on time for my first class.

I notice Farlan as he steps out of the counselor nook and into the front of the cabin holding a bucket filled with markers and a stack of construction paper.

“Seeing that almost everyone is in here, except those two” Farlan wiggles his index and middle finger towards the bunk bed in the left corner of the cabin “I’ve decided that we should make our name cards and hang them up by our beds so everyone can get to know each other” Farlan puts the pile of construction paper and the bucket of markers on the dusty wooden floor. “So gather ‘round kids, go wild have some fun” Farlan says as he retreats back into the cabin counselor nook as though he’s hiding himself from us “wild” and “rowdy” 16 year olds.

We all grab a piece of paper and sit down around the bucket of Markers. I grab a black marker and write my first name in all uppercase block letters, the piece of paper looks like it needs a bit more pizazz so I draw a little picture of myself in the corner of the paper. I look over at Marco’s paper, he’s written his name his name in cursive with blue marker and is currently drawing a bunch of tiny yellow stars around it. I look back down at my paper to see if I should add anything else.

“OH MY GOD, IS THAT PEPE THE FROG!?”

I look up. Erens pointing at that bald kid’s paper, I look at it. There is a picture of a really (and I mean really) badly drawn frog on it and the frog is none other than the world famous meme frog (you know sad frog the disgusting meme that has to be destroyed and removed from our planet). Connie is written neatly above the drawing of the frog. So this kids name is Connie and he really likes memes. So now not only is Eren the meme loving fuck of the cabin but so is this kid named Connie. Welcome to hell Jean Kirstein, fucking meme hell.

“Oh gosh yes dude you know it is!” Connie replies hi-fiving Eren.

Holy shit I can’t believe this. What are they gonna do now, Bond over memes? Is that even a thing? Do people legitimately bond over memes?

Sure enough Eren and Connie start to bond over memes.

I don’t want to be in this meme mess so I get up and grab some tape off of the half wall and go to hang up my piece of paper. I tape my paper onto the wooden bed post and look back over at the clock, it reads 1:12. Okay I should really start heading to class now. I shove whatever pieces of paper Farlan had handed me into my backpack and don’t even bother emptying out its contents, I’ll do that later I probably don’t have the time. As I’m walking out the cabin Marco grabs my arm.

“Here Jean wait for me I want to go see Miri”

“Uh yeah okay”

Miri or Ymir is Marco’s cousin and an art major like me, except the thing is Ymir is an amazing artist, like her art is absolutely phenomenal. I would punch a tree for her art abilities honestly.

“We’re going to the art colony, have fun talking about memes you guys!” I yell as we exit the Whitman cabin.

The door swings shut behind us with a loud rattling sound. It’s only a little hotter outside the cabin than inside. It’s possibly somewhere around seventy degrees and the sun is high in the sky without a cloud in sight.

We leave the unit and head onto the wide main trail leading to the art colony and eventually main camp. The main trail is lined with other units and as you get closer to main camp there are a few other building lining the trail such as the choir chapel or some of the small music huts and the mess of units start to disappear. I see some kids walking back to their units most with musical instruments are walking on the main trail, some emerge from a shortcut in the wooded area, and some are walking back from the trail that leads to two of the camps theaters. Still there are some kids walking in the same direction as Marco and I.

We walk along the main trail in silence just enjoying the sounds of camp. Kids playing their musical instruments, some just talking, and it all mixing together, it’s like a warm welcome from camp.

We reach a wide opening on the main trail, the art colony. A few wooden buildings stand at each side of the trail. There is a large white board that’s been rolled outside standing with a few park benches around it, that’s where all the students are. I already know where to go. I head to one of the art buildings where I grab my share of art supplies the camp has so kindly supplied to the students. As I step out I notice that all the benches have already been filled and some kids have grabbed horses to sit on (not actual real live horses just like the kind you sit on to paint or draw).

“Wait here, I’m gonna go get a horse” I hand Marco my art supplies.

“I don’t mind sitting on the grass, its fine”

“Nah the teachers get really pissy if you do that”

I drag the horse through the dry grass and set it sideways in front of the whiteboard.

“There” I plop my backpack in front of me and sit down.

Marco sits down next to me still holding my art supplies, his eyes searching the crowd. I know he’s looking for his cousin but she’s nowhere in sight.

I look back at Marco.

“Uh, you know you can give me my art stuff now” I announce.

“…Huh?” Marco looks at me then at the art supplies still held in his hands. “Oh sorry here” he hands me my belongings and I place them in my lap as he goes back to trying to find Ymir.

Suddenly Marco starts waving his hand up in the air and I move my eyes to where he’s looking. I see Ymir striding towards us, her messy brown hair tied back in a low ponytail and her face beaming with a smile and covered in a garden of freckles.

“What up bitches, guess who’s back at camp to fuck shit up and be gay as hell?” Ymir says as she walks towards us and throws her backpack onto the ground.  “I’m gonna go grab a horse, watch my shit for me”.

Half a minute later Ymir reappears dragging her horse onto the grass and setting it behind me and Marco.  Ymir leans forward and loops an arm around Marco.

“So how’s my beautiful baby cousin?” Ymir asks while messing up Marco’s hair.

“I’m good Mir” Marco says as he leans his head back to look at her.

“Well th-” Ymir starts but she’s promptly interrupted by a loud voice.

We all turn our heads to the white board where Mr. Barns the art department director is standing.  He clears his throat again and waits for attention. After he realizes that yes we all know he’s there Mr. Barns begins his speech on what he expects from the art students, he explains our independent art project for this year; a zentangle. Which I mean I guess is good, zentangles are pretty easy. Mr. Barns ends with introducing each of the teachers. First Mr. Hannes introduces himself, he’s one of the sculpture teachers and he likes to intimidate his students and we’re all pretty sure he’s drunk 24/7 but whatever, next is Ms. May, she’s a short chubby women who will be teaching printmaking, next is Dr. Zoë who smiles brightly at the group of campers, this year they will be teaching fiber arts and drawing and painting, Then there’s Mrs. Linda who’s a drawing and Painting teacher and Mr. Joe who teaches ceramics.

After all the teachers are introduced Mr. Barns allows us all to get up and see what classes we have this year. I’m praying to have Ymir in my classes, as annoying as she can be, being with her is better than not having anyone to talk to.

I wait for the area around the whiteboard to clear up before walking over to check what classes I have. I scan the names listed under each group until I find myself listed under group D meaning I have drawing and painting with Dr. Zoë as my first class, then sculpture with Mr. Hannes, and then Fiber arts with Dr. Zoë.

Ymir and Marco approach the whiteboard and I stand by as Ymir looks for her own name, her index finger going down the rows of unfamiliar names.

Ymir Pauses, her finger hovering over her name “Woo look at that I’m in group D!” Ymir leans over inspecting the names listed under our group, and I have to say I’m relieved I’ll have somebody to talk to. “Yo looks like I’ll be with you again Jean.” She looks over at me and smiles.

“I’m glad we’re together but um, how about we go check out our classes?” I suggest

“Fantastic idea Jean, I would’ve never thought of that” Ymir mocks sarcastically.

“Whatever lets go”

First we head into the small one room plywood building that is our drawing and Painting classroom. Dr. Zoë is at the front of the room. Their eyes land on me and Ymir.

“So will I be having the joy of seeing you two in my classes again this year?” Dr. Zoë asks walking over to us, their hands on their hips.

“You will most definitely be having the pleasure of seeing us every day in your fine class” Ymir replies looping her arm around my shoulder.

“Ah, well I sure am excited to see all your amazing work this session!” Dr. Zoë smiles brightly at us and we begin to shuffle away to the next building with Ymir slightly pushing me, obviously trying to escape what she thinks will be an oncoming speech from Dr. Zoë if we don’t leave immediately. We head towards the art barn, which is about a 7 minute walk away from the rest of the art colony. The art barn already smells of dust and disappointment as we enter it, I can’t wait to be disappointed by my sculpture class yet again. I don’t even want to see Mr. Hannes, he has obvious favorites and he always insults my sculptures right until the evaluation when he ends up saying how beautiful it is and shit.

“He’s probably in his office getting drunk or something” I mumble

“Yeah probably” Ymir laughs

“Does he actually do that?” Marco asks looking at me then Ymir

“I wouldn’t put it against him” I reply

After the investigation of our art classes Marco and I part ways with Ymir, who heads to the girls cabins on the other side of camp. Marco and I decide to take a shortcut though the forest to get to our cabin. The trail is rather quiet today and it seems as though we’re the only ones walking on it. I guess it’s just empty due to it being the first day of camp. Marco sighs next to me and cracks his knuckles, really loudly too, like whoa what the fuck dude? But whatever it’s just nice to be at camp, away from home, and with a bunch of other artsy kids who are generally great.

“You know Jean, I’m glad to be back at camp, I’m happy I get to see my friends, I’m happy I get to see you. I mean I know we talked a lot during the school year, but now we can talk in person, I uh, I missed seeing you I guess.”

I look over at Marco and he’s smiling down at his feet.

“I’m happy to see you too man.” Thanks Marco that was really sweet what you just said and like our skype chats were probably the highlights of my generally shitty school year, and I’m just really extremely happy that you’re here, and talking to you last year at camp was one of the best decisions I’ve made in my life. Haha but I can’t say all that, it would be kinda weird wouldn’t it?

Marco smiles at me.

We talk about a lot of things on our way back to Whitman, the past school year, Marco’s life in Jinae, my life in Trost, our aspirations for camp.

We finally reach good old Whitman. I open the cabin door for Marco and tip my invisible fedora.

“After you m’lady”

“Wow jean, I didn’t know you were a nice guy” Marco snickers.

“Oh wait shit, I should’ve said m’arco”

“If you said that I probably would’ve punched you in the face”

“You’re too nice to punch me in the face” I point out.

Marco nods “yeah true”

The cabin is louder than when we left. There’s a tall kid playing the French horn in the middle of the room and I’m pretty sure I’ve seen him around camp last year, anyway he’s accompanied by Armin playing the cello. Eren is being a huge mess around the duo badly flailing his arms and doing something with his feet that I guess is dancing. Connie is sitting next to a buff blonde kid who I’ve definitely seen before, yup I’m pretty sure he was in the same unit as me last year. Anyway Connie and whatshisface are trying to clap along to the rhythm this ragtag band has got going on. Whatshisface looks up at us.

“Hey, look who finally joined us, it’s Marco and that kid you hung out with a lot last year” He says.

“The names Jean” I reply.

“Sean?”

“Jean”

“Juan?”

“Jean”

“John?”

“Jean!”

“Oh… So it’s Jean? Like Jean Val jean?”

“Yes like the Les Mis guy, yes, thank god.”

“Well my names Reiner.”

“Reindeer?”

“No Reiner, gosh it’s not that hard to get!”

“I’m just messing with you, chill dude.” I put my hands up in defense.

“Well I don’t think you’ve met my main man Bertholdt over there” Reiner Points his thumb at the tall kid playing French horn. “He’s a pro at blowing that French horn, but tha-“

The French horn abruptly stops.

“Reiner no” Bertholdt looks at Reiner with a stern expression.

“What?” Reiner looks at him.

“I know what you’re about to say, that joke got old last year, please don’t make me suffer through more inappropriate French horn jokes.” Bertholdt pleads.

“Fine whatever you say French hornist.”

Bertholdt Sighs.

I look at him apologetically and shrug.

Farlan sticks his head through the cabin door.

“Hey guys, we’re doing unit precautions and a little intro game before dinner, so be out in the clearing in 5 minutes.” Then he disappears and the door shuts loudly behind him.

“Thanks fire alarm!” Eren yells at the closed cabin door.

We all shuffle to put our things away. I drop my backpack next to my bunk bed, Bertholdt and Armin put their instruments away, Eren puts his shoes on but doesn’t tie the laces, and we all file out of our cabin. Some kids and counselors are forming a circle and we all join in. Basically we’re playing the generic introduction game where we go around the circle and each kid says their name, major, and an interesting fact about themselves. I find out some interesting things, turns out Connie is a dance major and owns 5 lizards and apparently Reiner is a musical theater major who can cook a mean lasagna, which Bertholdt confirms as true stating that his favorite food is Reiner’s home cooked lasagna.

After the introduction game all us kids sit around at the picnic tables in our unit as the cabin counselors go through safety procedures and unit info and shit. Occasionally I’ll make comments under my breath, although I have to say that it’s not very easy to listen to this stuff while my minds on dinner. Maria mac n, cheese here I come. Mac n’ cheese! Mac n’ cheese! Mac n’ cheese! Mac n’ che-

“Okay Unit fifteen, line up with your cabins and let’s head to dinner!” The unit director’s words cut through my train of thought, and I caught the one key word I needed to hear: dinner.

I follow the rest of my cabin mates as we line up by Farlan. Since it’s the first day we all walk along the main trail rather than the shortcut to get to the dining hall. I walk next to Marco and Connie. Eren and Armin are walking in front of us and holding hands. Eren is violently swinging his and Armin’s arms. I catch Eren whisper “I’m going to swing you into the fucking sun, Armin” Real smooth Eren.

Armin sighs loudly “and here I thought you were trying to be romantic”

Eren laughs “the sun is the most romantic place in the universe”

“The sun is a burning hot star”

At that Eren starts singing an out of tune version of “Child of the Universe” and Armin just laughs and sings along.

Connie leans over next to me “I think they’d be a cute couple” he whispers.

“Pretty sure they already are and just don’t realize it” I reply

The rest of the walk to the dining hall basically consists of me and Connie eavesdropping on Eren and Armin’s conversation. We enter main camp and line up in front of the dining hall. I find myself thinking about a very crucial camp tradition: the dinnertime sacrifices’. Wait let me explain, the dinnertime sacrifices are basically the boys half of camp versus the girls half. Some kids from one half of camp kidnap a camper from the other half and do something weird to show off their superiority. None of the camp directors actually approve of it, in fact they try pretty hard to prevent the weird tradition, but at this point it’s a trite practice here at Camp Maria. I know I’m gonna feel bad for whatever poor soul is the first sacrifice of the session.

As we walk into the building the warm welcoming scent of mac n’ cheese greets me. Oh god bless Maria mac n’ cheese.

We all sit with our cabins during meals. Farlan takes a seat at the edge of the table and I sit next to him. Marco sits to my left.  Bertholdt scoots onto the bench across from me.

Ugh we have to sing the dinner song before we can go get our food and I honestly don’t think I have the energy to get up and sing but I do, I sure do get up. As we all sing the song about       love and peace or whatever it’s about I try to pick out the voices of my cabin mates. Okay well holy shit because Marco has got a quality voice but I already know that, and like I don’t think I can hear Bertholdt singing at all and Farlan is surprisingly actually pretty good. The song ends and we all sit back down, and then we wait. We’re probably like the 3rd cabin in our unit to go get our food which isn’t too bad.

I’m so fucking excited to eat mac n’ cheese holy shit. The man behind the kitchen counter plops a spatula full of mac n’ cheese and a handful of chicken nuggets onto my gray plastic tray. I go to the salad bar and just grab a fistful of cucumber slices and get some ranch before heading back over to my table and taking a seat. Bertholdt is sitting across from me carefully munching on a veggie nugget. I get as much mac n’ cheese onto my fork as I possibly can and shove it into my mouth. Oh beautiful cheesy goodness, oh succulent macaroni, god fucking bless Camp Maria for having such good Macaroni and cheese.

“Jean!”

I’m brought out of my Macaroni and cheese moment.

Marco is prodding me in the arm with a pitcher of red drink. I glare at him.

“I know you’re in love with Mac n’ cheese, but can you please pass down the pitcher” he says

I shove another forkful of mac n’ cheese into my mouth before taking the pitcher from Marco’s hands and passing it down to the end of the table.

“Aren’t you gonna drink anything?” Marco asks

I stare at him “camp drinks are too sugary” I say as I shove more macaroni into my mouth.

After I’m done shoving food into my mouth I excuse myself from the table and head outside to the bathroom, which is located in a small building across from the dining hall. After washing my hands I make my way back outside, pushing the bathroom door open with my side so I don’t get my hands dirty. Ymir is standing outside the bathroom door when I shuffle out. She smiles at me.

“Uh hi?” what’s she doing here?

Ymir’s smile just grows.

“SASHA NOW!”

Huh!?

Before I can say anything I’m grabbed from behind by someone who I can only assume is Sasha. A scratchy burlap Bag is tossed onto my head. I’m shaking my head violently to get the bag off, I would use my hands but Sasha has got a tight hold on them behind me.

“WHAT THE FUCK YMIR!?” I scream

And then it hits me “oh my god Ymir, please tell me this isn’t what I think it is”

“Poor naïve Jean” Ymir laughs

Ymir and Sasha start leading me into the dining hall and oh my fucking god I can’t believe this is happening. The pair pushes me through the doors of the dining hall and into the middle of the cafeteria and I can hear how everyone stops talking. Oh god why is this happening to me, why couldn’t it be some dumb first year.  I can feel all the camper’s eyes on me through this stupid burlap potato sack.

Ymir clears her throat. “Ladies, gentleman, and campers of all genders” she yells “I’m about to show you why the girls side of camp flipping rules!” Ymir rips the potato sack off of my head. Everyone is staring at me. I scowl at Ymir and she gives me a huge smile. She leans forward and whispers “time to make the walk of shame back to your cabin kid”.

Sasha lets go of my hands and I turn around to look at her. She has auburn hair and straight cut bangs. She smiles and waves at me and I just scowl.

The talking slowly restarts as I make my way back to my cabin's table, keeping my head low as to not get attention. Who am I kidding, everyone is gonna know me as the loser who was the first sacrifice of the year. I can hear some kids laughing, well fuck them. I slowly bring my head up as I approach my table. Some kids look shocked (probably just first years).

"Jean, are you okay?" Farlan asks as I sit back down.

"Ya" I grumble, tapping my fingers on the linoleum surface of the table.

"What was that?" Connie asks

"That was the dinnertime sacrifices" Eren answers from the other end of the table.

"Ohh holy shit" Connie says

"Language" Farlan warns him

Marco places a hand on my shoulder and gives me an apologetic look.

I lean my head close to him "that was fucked up" I whisper.

"Yeah, yeah I guess Ymir can be pretty wild" He whispers back

After dinner we clean our table and head back outside. Rather than going to our cabins we go to Maria auditorium, a large auditorium outside in main camp.

I’m forced to listen to one of the camp directors drone on about camp up on stage. After having to listen to the camp director speak for half an hour, we’re all finally dismissed to go back to our cabins, and thank god because I hate the camp introduction speech.

We all walk through the shortcut in a big mess. I can hear Eren yelling somewhere in front of me. There’s a bunch of kids from other cabins around me. I think Connie is somewhere to my left? Maybe? Whatever we’ll make it back without losing anybody…hopefully.

 


	2. Ascent

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The second day of camp and Jean is already realising how weird his final year at Camp Maria is going to be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You may remember that i originally posted chapter 2 in November but I edited it quite a bit so I felt it would be best to just re-post it! enjoy the chapter everyone!

“Everybody’s trying’ to get in my head”

What? Huh? My eyes shoot open and I am suddenly painfully aware of the cold air surrounding me. I try to crawl deeper into my sleeping bag to keep myself warm but it’s no use, the whole cabin is freezing and the cold air has already invaded my blanket nest. I sit up and slide my hands down my face. One of my least favorite parts about camp is having to wake up at 6 am. The cabin is still really dark, with only the bluish gray light from outside filtering in through the windows. 

I look out the tiny window on the cabin door. The lights in the bathroom building are already on. I really should get out of bed. My gaze shifts to the two pieces of paper taped under the window, one of them has a picture of a giant bee with three multicolor dragon heads on it and the other one has a list of our cabin rules. The giant dragon bee is our cabin mascot coined by Eren, he made it last night after dinner, and we all decided it would be a great mascot for our cabin. The list of cabin rules was also made last night. We had all decided that respect was our number one policy and Reiner and Marco had loudly sung “Respect” by Aretha Franklin. So far my cabin sure seems wild. 

I finally manage to pull my whole body out of my sleeping bag and blanket nest, but holy fuck its freezing!

The cabin door slams open. Eren walks in fully dressed in his camp uniform. “Oh my god, you guys are still asleep? It’s like” Eren turns his head to the alarm clock at the front of the room that’s still playing “Bet on It” form High school Musical “6:05, cheese and crackers! Wake up!”

I hear Farlan sigh from the front of the room. “I hate to say this, but Eren is right, you all should get up. I’m gonna turn the lights on.”

I shut my eyes so they don’t burn out of their sockets as the lights in the cabin turn on. I open my eyes and blink a few times so they get adjusted to the brightness of the room. I grab the side of my bed and jump out onto the shitty wood floor. I slide my tennis shoes on and grab my toothbrush and all that other shit I need and head out to the bathroom.

Holy shit, it’s really cold outside the cabin, much colder than it is inside. I mean I was expecting that, but still it’s fucking cold and im tired and everything is weird at 6 am. 6 am isn’t a place, it’s an emotion. Wait fuck, 6 am isn’t a place at all it’s a time and I fucked up.    

The bathroom only has three sinks and they’re all currently crowded. Lucky for me, Marco is standing in front of the far right sink. He’s patting his face with a towel and has one of his many blankets draped around his shoulders like a cape; in general he looks pretty out of it. I start brushing my teeth and move over to the sink he’s standing at. I nudge my elbow into his side and raise an eyebrow at him.

Marco stares at me for a moment and then places his whole face on top of my head.

“Good job” he whispers into my hair.

Good job for what? What did I do? Im just a young man trying to brush my teeth, what is this?

He pats my head then walks out to the cabin.

Thanks Marco.

“Carrying the Banner” from Newsies is playing when I re-enter the cabin. Yes I know my musicals.

I look around. Eren is dramatically sweeping the floor while Armin is making his bed. Connie, Reiner, and Bertholdt aren’t in the cabin so I’m just going to assume they’re in the bathroom and I didn’t realize that they walked in there. Marco is by our bunk bed getting dressed. I walk over to our bunk and rummage through my bag to find my polo, pants, and hopefully my horrendous yet warm camp Maria hoodie.

I quickly shuffle into my dark blue jeans, tucking my forest green Maria Fine Arts Camp polo into them, Got to follow camp rules. I pull on my atrocious lime green camp hoodie over my shirt. Look this hoodie may look disgusting but its hella warm, plus it’s the cheapest hoodie the camp store sells and I am not about busting big bucks on camp merchandise, plus I have to stay in uniform.

Once our cabins cleaned up, we all head outside and wait to go eat breakfast.

This morning’s breakfast menu consists of waffles and gross little breakfast sausages. I happen to think Camp Maria’s waffles are too dry and the breakfast sausages are extremely gross, so I opt out and get a bowl of Froot Loops and an orange instead.

I sit down next to Marco and across from Eren. Eren is eating a breakfast sausage very carefully, as though every bite may be poisonous. Marco shoves a syrupy canned peach into his mouth. I am mildly disgusted by my friend’s breakfast food choices.

“Ugh, I’m so tired” Marco says leaning his head on his hand and looking down unenthusiastically at his cardboard waffles topped with mushy canned peach shit.

“Yeah, I feel you man, I could probably fall asleep in my cereal” I reply. 

Marco looks down at my bowl of mushy Froot Loops “That’s gross Jean” he whispers squinting at me.

I shrug and continue eating my cereal.

The walk to the art colony isn’t too bad. My legs are freezing but my hands are warm thanks to the Styrofoam cup I’m holding filled with burning tea. The choir chapel and rehearsal buildings are around the same area as the art buildings so Marco accompanies me on my cold morning walk to my first class.

I walk into the small wooden building that houses my first class: Drawing and Painting. Ymir sees me as I walk in and her bored expression changes to a smile.

“Wazzup sucker?” Ymir asks as I sit down next to her and place my bag onto the table.

“Just had to witness my friends eat gross breakfast sausages” I reply.

“Good thing im a vag-itarian” Ymir winks. I stare at her, and then begin to unpack my backpack and take out my sketchbook. “Oh come on, Jean. Admit that that was a good joke” Ymir whines.

“Honestly what else should I have expected, of course you were going to make a joke about how fucking gay you are, you always have to make a joke about how fucking gay you are in every possible situation.” I reply

“This is art camp, I’m allowed to express myself freely”

“Okay yeah, first amendment, freedom of speech and shit”

“Thanks, Jean!”

I sigh and dig through my bag to find my pencil case.

More kids start to fill the room, some of the younger ones look a little nervous. There are a lot of familiar faces from previous years though.

Ymir turns and starts talking to the kid sitting next to her. I don’t pay any attention to the conversation until I hear her mention my name. “Yeah, you remember Jean, right?”

I look up. Ymir is pointing at me with her thumb. I look past Ymir and at the girl she was talking to who is now looking at me. She has dark skin and her hair is in two ponytails. She looks familiar but I can’t quite put a name to her face. Damnit! Why do I have to be so bad with names?

“Hi Jean!” she says

“Uh, hi” I reply still trying to remember her name. I swear to god I remember her from last year, but why can’t I remember her name?

“Do you remember me from last year?”

“Uh…”

“My names Mina, I asked you to the camper dance last year, but we ended up ditching each other during the actual dance”

Okay now I definitely remember her. “Oh my god, I’m still sorry for that. But yeah of course I remember you, Mina.”

“Don’t be sorry, I still had a good night. I should be apologizing for ditching you too.”

I think back to last year’s camper dance, the majority of it was just Marco and I sitting at main camp, eating ice cream, and talking about stuff. “Its fine” I reply.

Mina smiles and turns back to Ymir.

“Hellooo everybody!” Dr. Zoë says from the front of the room. “If you are in group-d you are exactly where you need to be! If you are not in group-d you should find the correct building to go to!” they pause and look around to see if anyone is leaving, but everyone stays seated. “Okay looks like you all belong here. Now I know very well that last night all of you were given schedules, and on those schedules it stated that your first class was drawing and painting with Ms. Zoë. This class is indeed drawing and painting, but I must tell you that Ms. Zoë in not here with us. Instead, I, Dr. Zoë, will be teaching this class. Although I have to say that I don’t actually have a doctorates degree, so you all may just call me by my first name: Hanji. Calling me Hanji is perfectly fine.” Hanji wiggles the clip board they’re holding in the air. “Now, before I introduce you to the projects we’re doing this session, I need to take attendance.”

So turns out we have five drawing and painting projects this session: we have to make a batik (which honestly strikes me as more of a fibers project since fabric and wax and stuff but I mean I get it there’s still painting involved), we have to draw one charcoal drawing, paint a still life, draw a self-portrait using words, and paint a landscape. I don’t know if I can finish all of these projects in the 12 days I have to finish them, but oh my god, will I try.

By the time Hanji has finished explaining all the projects, there’s only 20 minutes left of class. I decide to just sketch out ideas for my batik. Maybe I’ll go with something from nature, or maybe just a pattern, maybe like an undersea theme? That would be pretty cool. By the time class ends my sketchbook page is filled with drawings of trees, flowers, animals, cool squids, other undersea animals, and random patterns. I’ll figure something out.

The walk to the art barn where the sculpture class is held takes around 10 minutes. It’s still pretty cold outside so I shove my hands in my pockets.

“So, you ready to face off against Mr. Hannes?” Ymir asks as she walks next to me.

“No”

“Yeah, you’re right. I mean who let a drunken man operate power tools?”

“Who let him supervise kids using power tools while he’s drunk?”

“The world is a mess Jean, you’ll get used to it.”

“I think I already am.”

Mr. Hannes is standing outside the art barn with a clipboard in one hand and a diet coke in the other. His expression stays flat as we enter the art barn. Mr. Hannes gives a PowerPoint presentation on this year’s sculpture project. We have to make a bust. Not any bust, but a giant, minimalist, wooden bust. I can only hope for the best.

I have no idea as to what I’m going to do. I think about it on the walk all the way back to Hanji’s room.

At least fiber arts is enjoyable.

Hanji doesn’t introduce all our projects at once, but says they’ll introduce them as we go along. The first project we do is a simple patch. Hanji just wants us to get used to using the materials. They say it should be nature themed, so I decide to make my patch a tree (yes I know that’s super lame but I’m good at drawing trees, jeez). There’s only enough time for me to get materials and start sketching my idea before class is over, which is fine, I’ll continue my patch during studio hour today.

I walk to main camp with Ymir. She tells me her first patch is going to be some roses. It’s a bit intricate for a patch but it can be done, Ymir has the skill for it.

I part ways with Ymir, and head towards the spot my cabin meets at before meals. Bertholdt, Reiner, and Armin are already there.

“How were your classes?” Armin asks

“Pretty good, how were yours?” I ask

“Oh you know, got a few pieces, and did some exercises, just Orchestra things”

I nod my head as though I understand. “Just Orchestra things.”

Suddenly there’s a pair of hands over my eyes.

“Guess who” sings the voice behind me.

“Um I’m gonna go with Joe Biden.”

“Close enough” The hands leave my face. Marco steps in front of me, and places his index finger under his nose. “Hello, it’s me the vice president.”

“Joe Biden doesn’t have a mustache, Marco”

“The mustache makes me look more professional”

“Right, so how is your first day of classes going?” I ask.

“fantastic!” Marco replies.

Eren and Connie finally join our group and now the whole cabins back together.

Lunch today is pizza; we have our choice of cardboard cheese pizza, or cardboard peperoni pizza. I go with cardboard peperoni pizza, but I also get a salad (it mostly consists of cucumbers but it’s still a salad nonetheless). Marco, who is sitting next to me, is munching on a peperoni pizza. His tray has a lot of lettuce drenched in ranch dressing on it. He dips his Pizza into the lettuce ranch mixture and I stare at him.

“What?” he asks, his mouth full of ranch pizza.

“Nothing” I mumble.

“Are you disgusted by my cool ranch pizza?” he waves his pizza in my face.

“Maybe a little” I lean back in my chair, as though the pizza is a bomb ready to explode in my face. Marco moves the pizza closer to me and I slither down into my chair to avoid it. “Marco stop” I hiss, slithering down more in my seat.

“Submit to the ranchy pizza, Jean” Marco says, taking a huge bite out of his pizza slice and smiling down at me while I pretend to gag. Marco just swallows his pizza and laughs. I stick my tongue out at him. Marco just laughs more. I continue to eat my pizza and cucumbers.

“So, what’s everyone doing after lunch? I have to go to my acting minor, but im not entirely sure how to get there, I mean I’ll figure it out.” Connie says from the other side of the table.

“Me and Bert are probably just gonna hang out at main camp” Reiner responds looping his arm around Bertholdt.

“Radio Minor” Eren responds

“Creative Writing Minor” Armin says

“I’ve got a piano minor” Marco responds

“I’m probably just gonna go back to the cabin and draw, maybe sort out some stuff for the talent show” I shrug

“Ooh what are you doing for the talent show, Jean?” Connie Asks

I laugh and shrug “I don’t think I’m actually gonna be in any of the acts this year, I mean unless someone lets me borrow their guitar, I’m just helping one of my friends practice”

“Ooh, you play guitar?” Connie asks

 “Well I am in a pretty cool band”

“The drummer in that band is one of the hottest boys I know” Eren adds

“Shut up Eren, you are the drummer” 

“You two are in a band together?” Connie asks

“Yup, Me, Eren, and Eren’s sister” I respond

“Cool, so does that mean you all know each other outside of camp?”

“Yeah, actually it’s kinda funny, Me, Eren, and Armin live in the same town but we actually met at camp” I answer.

“Wow, camp Maria really is one giant family” Connie says half to himself.

Eren just laughs.

After lunch I walk with Marco to the piano hut where his piano minor takes place, before heading back to the cabin to practice guitar. According to Marco the piano minor isn’t very hard. Apparently there’s only an instructor in the room for the first 10 minutes of class to see how well the piece you’re playing is, and the rest of the class is just spent practicing alone. I might visit Marco during minor hour sometime. I grab my bag and climb up onto my bunk. I doodle a little but no great ideas for my zentangle or any other projects come up. I shut my sketchbook and hop off the bunk. I check the clock. It’s only 1:32. There’s no harm in going back to the art colony early. I could just sit outside one of the buildings and draw, or maybe I could go visit Marco. To visit or not to visit, that is the question. Will it be awkward if the piano teacher is in there? Yes. Will I be a good friend if I visit Marco? Yes definitely. I contemplate my choices as I walk down the trail. Marco is probably all lonely in that piano hut all by himself. Okay, I’ve made up my mind I’m gonna go visit him.

There’s no one on the main trail as I walk down it. People usually aren’t walking down the trail during Minor hour, they’re usually either in Main camp, their cabin, or their minor class if they have one. I enjoy the short alone time, it’s really peaceful. I walk on with my hands in my pockets.  I reach the small piano building; soft piano music can be heard from where I’m standing, it sounds really nice and calming. There’s a window on the door so I look in to make sure there’s no one else besides Marco in there. Yeah I don’t want to be horribly awkward. Sure enough Marco is the only one in there; his back facing towards the door. I knock on the door but he doesn’t seem to notice me, as he continues playing. I guess I should just walk in. I slowly turn the door knob and push the door open, careful to not make too much noise as to disturb Marco. He’s still playing the piece as I shut the door and he still hasn’t noticed me. I put my backpack on the ground and lean back on the door. The room is really small so I can’t really stand anywhere else, if I take one more step forward I would basically be breathing down Marco’s neck. It’s pretty funny that he has yet to notice me even though I’m pretty much standing right behind him. From where I am I can see how Marco softly sways to the music he’s playing and how his hands work over the keyboard as he presses the keys, playing the notes.  The music is so soft and calming that I find myself swaying slightly to it as well. Slowly the music comes to an end, pulling me out of its trance.

“That was really good, Marco” I whisper, still leaning back on the door with my arms crossed. I’m also not really sure why I whispered that.

Marco jumps in his seat. Shit I scared him. He turns around a bit.

“T-thanks” he’s blushing a little. It’s kinda cute. Wait, shit did I embarrass him? Darn it “H-hi Jean, uh mind if I ask how long you’ve been standing there?”

“Not that long” I smirk

“Oh”

“Yeah, I really liked the song you were playing, what’s the name?” I ask

“Uh one sec” Marco turns back to the piano and moves around the sheet music. Some of the sheet music falls onto the floor and Marco sighs. I pick up a few sheets and hand them to him. He’s blushing even more now. Wow. He sorts through the sheets and pulls one out. “Um it’s Nocturne in c sharp minor, by um Edward Auer.”

“It’s really pretty” I reply

“Thanks, it’s one of my favorites” he says sheepishly. “Wait Obviously I like the song or else I wouldn’t be playing it” He explains putting the sheet music back on the piano. He turns back to me “So uh, what are you doing here?”

“I didn’t feel like practicing guitar, so I decided you would enjoy my company”

“Oh”

“You can continue playing, I’ll just draw or something” I wave my hand and pull my sketchbook out of my bag.

“Oh I see”

“What?” I ask, raising an eyebrow at him.

“You just wanted to come see me” Marco smiles.

“Well duh, you’re my friend, so I want to see you as much as possible at camp since it’s the only time all year I get to see you” 

“Aww, that’s very sweet of you Jean” Marco says, clutching his hands to his chest and batting his eyelashes.

“Shut up” I mumble

“Make me”

“WHAT!?”  Marco you don’t understand you just can’t say that in a normal extremely platonic conversation between two bros, you just can’t!

“What?” Marco asks

“I WASN’T EXPECTING THAT!”

“Wasn’t expecting what Jean?” Marco smiles at me, but there’s a mischievous glint in his eyes.

“Just play piano” I silently scream in my mind.

“Okay going back to piano practicing” Marco turns around on the Piano bench.

“Good”

Marco nods and begins playing the piece again. I sigh and try to think of Zentangle Ideas.

Minor hour passes by rather quickly after that. I say bye to Marco and head to Hanji’s building which is luckily pretty close to the piano hut (yes I’m gonna call the piano practice building the piano hut, the tittle fits nicely.)  

There’s still some time before class but I walk into the plywood building anyway. Hanji is sitting at the front of their room, drawing. They look up and greet me as I walk in. “Jean, you do know that there’s still about 20 minutes before class starts?”

 “Yeah” I shrug. I pick up my fabric and thread and look around for a needle. I don’t have anything else to do unless I walk to the choir chapel to bother Marco. Plus Hanji’s usually a pretty chill instructor and doesn’t mind if I hang out in their room during my free time.

Hanji hums and directs their attention back to their drawing.

I sit down at one of the front most tables with my bag next to me and begin sketching more intricate designs into the trunk of the tree. Drawing the curved lines is rather peacefully, especially with no one else in the room. The loud chatter and occasional music that Hanji plays can get quite distracting for me, so it’s nice to have a little time to myself and my art. I carve out the rough textured trunk of the tree, my pencil pushing curves into the Styrofoam. 

As I start to work on the smaller details of the tree I hear a loud clanging on the steps to the art building. I look up as Ymir’s smug face comes into view.

“What’s up bitches!?” Ymir Yells  

Hanji gives her an amused look, any other instructor would have probably been furious with Ymir for swearing at camp.   

I notice Ymir isn’t alone. A short blond kid is standing next to her, obviously shocked at her language. Ymir leans down and whispers something to them and they smile and leave.

Ymir slides into the seat next to me.

“Who was that?”  I ask

“Krista” she replies. Thanks Ymir, I still have no idea who Krista is, although I have to say they do look a little familiar, but then again everyone at camp looks familiar. I suppose Ymir notices the confusion painted on my face because she finally explains. “She’s a choir major, we’re in the same cabin”

“ah, cool beans” I reply

Ymir Laughs “You sound like my cousin! You pick that up from him?”

I shrug, but don’t say anything.

“Anyways” Ymir gets up and goes to grab the patch material she’s working with. She sits back down. “Anyway, as I was saying” she pauses “wait; I don’t know what I was going to say” Ymir deadpans.

“It’s okay, it’ll come back to you, and maybe it was about girls? You always talk about girls” I try to help but it’s probably useless.

“Oh Jean, you know me so well”

“Yeah, well, I have known you for like 5 years”

Ymir and I continue to talk as more kids shuffle into the art building, albeit I’m now more focused on the work in front of me. Once I’m finished with the trunk, I start to work on the leaves on the tree. I use one fluid stroke to make the smooth curved outline. They don’t have to be extremely detailed. I think I’m ready to actually sew my patch, a red orange for the leaves, brown for the trunk, and a pink to yellow gradient for the background.

By the time studio hour is over I’ve already made the trunk and leaves, I think most of my work left is probably just some extra details. I want the details of the trunk to be more noticeable, should probably use more browns for extra designs. Ooh and maybe add some specks of yellow to the leaves, which would be a nice addition.

Ymir is still working on the first rose on her patch at the end of the hour. I don’t blame her though. Her designs very intricate and she’s putting a lot of detail into each of the roses.

I push the needle into the soft fabric and store my patch in the back of Hanji’s fiber arts room.

Ymir and I wait for Marco outside the art building then say our goodbyes as she heads the opposite way to the girl’s cabins.

Free hour brings with it a shower and wasted time. Marco sitting on his bunk, idly chewing on beef jerky and reading _Good Omens,_ Me, looking over my sketches and wishing my hair would dry faster. Connie is laying on his bed listening to music. I think there’s a card game going on outside in the unit. I don’t want to join. 

By the time I’ve looked through all my sketches it’s already time to head to the dining hall, whoops. 

Maria Farts camp’s legendary (farty) tacos are being served today. In general they’re okay but I’ve heard the vegetarian ones suck.

Bertholdt sighs from his spot across from me. He’s sadly looking down at his mushy vegetarian tacos. The thing is they just put more beans on it to compensate for the lost protein of the meat. Well, I guess the whole camps gonna know who the vegetarians are now if they didn’t before.

Overall my taco is okay. The hard shell brakes easily and I’m always nervous about the mystery meat, but it doesn’t taste bad or anything.

Marco, who’s sitting next to me, is poking around at the lettuce covering his tray. He didn’t even get a taco. I know he’s scared that the mystery meat (which is probably just kinda gross beef) is like secretly horse meat or baby flesh or something.

As I divert my attention back to my taco I hear Eren yelling from the other side of the table “RAISE A GLASS TOOO FREEEDOM!” He picks up his muddy lemonade and Ice tea mixture and thrust the cup into the air spilling some of the liquid onto his arm and table.

“RAISE A GLASS TO THE FOUR OF US!” Reiner laughs from across Eren.

Marco picks his attention up from his salad “Tomorrow there’ll be more of us?” he adds.

They continue singing as I eat my taco. I know I’ve said that I know my musicals, but I sure don’t know this one. Oh well, I’ll just ask Marco later. 

Something is a little off putting about dinner. I look around the table and realize that Connie has probably been gone for around ten minutes. I don’t say anything, but as I look around again I notice the side door opening and Connie walking in with a huge grin on his face. Okay what was this kid up to?

“Yo, where were you?” I ask Connie.

“Just the bathroom” He answers, looking down at his tray.

“For like ten minutes?”

“Uh, yeah?” he answers “what’s wrong with that? Can’t a guy take a long pee?”

“Okay fine” I back off.

As we’re walking through the forest heading back to the cabin, I realize there was no dinner time sacrifice today.

***

Since it’s the first full day of camp todays small amount of free time before bed is dedicated to campfire games.

The first thing our cabin has to do is learn our unit’s song. Let me explain; every year Maria fine arts camp has a unit song showdown in which each unit has to prepare a song and dance based off of a theme and preform it in front of the whole camp. This year the theme is Motown, and this year our units song is Ain’t no Mountain High Enough. We learn as much of the song as we can in the ten minutes we have before we’re ushered away and forced to play a get-to-know you game.

Next thing I know I’m squished between Reiner and Marco because for some damn reason Farlan thought a good way for us to get to know each other was to play human knot. Marco laughs, I sigh, and Eren is screaming as he’s trying to untangle us all. I hope Farlan doesn’t find some kind of joy in our suffering.

We all shuffle around to try to find our own way out of the knot. I get hit in the nose by someone- not sure who. We’re basically a giant tangle of limbs at this point. I’m not even going to try moving anymore. Marco has somehow ended up pressed up against my back “sorry Jean” whatever, its fine. Eren has his elbow shoved into my ribs, his other arm is stuck around Bert’s neck, and one of his legs is out of the knot entirely.     

Finally Armin (bless his soul) manages to push through the knot and untangle us all.

The next game we’re ushered over to play is a sort of telephone game except with acting. The counselor managing this activity places us all into a circle and then steps out into the middle and pretends to eat an imaginary meal “I’m eating a nutritious meal” he exclaims. Next he points to Eren and I know things are going to get strange. Somehow by the time it’s my turn to go “I’m eating a nutritious meal” has turned into “I’m practicing a demonic blood ritual”. I panic and end up pretending to get a blood transfusion, but then “I’m getting a blood transfusion” turns into “I’m throwing a baby off the Grand Canyon” and the circle of sin and regret just keeps on turning. 

After the telephone game disaster we play charades, which isn’t any more promising. I know Eren’s going to pick something really weird and vague to be. Connie is first to go, he plops onto the ground and wiggles around.

“Are you a worm?” Armin asks

Connie stands up and does a pose “yes, my main man” he gives Armin a thumbs up. Way to go Connie.

Next up is Bertholdt; he pretends to be a chemist.

I walk into the middle of the group next; I click my hands and shuffle around.

“YOU’RE A HORSE!” Eren yells. I stare at him angrily but I can’t say anything.

Marco finally guesses that I’m pretending to be a crab.

For some reason Reiner, Eren, and Marco all pretend to be founding fathers, and in the end I end up yelling at Eren because “How the hell was I supposed to know you we’re Aaron Burr, seriously Eren how would I even guess that!?”

At this point the game has basically fallen apart. I see Reiner say something to Marco from the corner of my eye as I’m still yelling at Eren. Marco is laughing as he walks towards us. He clears his throat.

“Are you guys still fighting about the whole founding fathers thing?” Marco asks

“Yeah, look I don’t fucking get it! Do you guys all have some weird ass joke going on about founding fathers that I am not in on or what?”

“It’s not really an inside joke or anything” Marco shrugs “Just mutual bonding over founding fathers I guess” Marco laughs

“I’ll never understand you theater people, or music people, you know I don’t think I can really understand anyone ever.” I sigh

Marco smiles at me and shrugs.

Eren pats my back as he slides out of the conversation. He turns back around for a second. “Oh, by the way Jean, It’s a musical.”

“It’s a musical?” I repeat “You guys are gonna have to fill me on this stuff” I laugh and shake my head.

***

Finally our cabin finds itself in front of the campfire. We gather around with our marshmallows and sticks and graham crackers and general s’mores supplies.

We’re the last cabin around the fire, so the flame is already low and flickering. Dancing on the twigs and newspapers as it meagerly illuminates the small area around us.

Marco Shove’s half the s’more he’s holding into his mouth.

“This is nice” he says around a mouthful of mushy Marshmallow.

“The s’more?” I laugh

He laughs “No, well yeah, the s’more was good, but I meant being back at camp, being with my friends, being with you” he pauses “you know, camp is one of the only places I can really be myself” The last part is a small whisper.

For a lot of kids camp is the only place where they can be themselves. There are no parents constantly watching over them, they can fully express themselves. Camp Maria is a place where kids can be with people who have similar interests as them and won’t judge them. A lot of kids come here as an escape.

I look into the fire and the way it’s starting to flicker down more and more, the small embers bouncing on the sticks and newspapers, they dance fast and freely for a short time before they simmer down and die.

I look back up at Marco and give him a sympathetic smile “Yeah I know.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! comments are appreciated, I love seeing people's opinions!

**Author's Note:**

> Well Its finally here, the long awaited camp au also known as the "first multichapter snk fic Catsincafes has ever written"  
> also note that I am really embarrassed to post this  
> oh also I'm trying to put hidden references to other jm fics in this kinda as a joke, so if there's one you'd like to see please comment below and tell me.


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